1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a method for rapidly identifying microbial DNA/RNA; to a kit for this purpose and the use of the method.
2. Background Information
The rapid identification of microorganisms, in particular the frequently occurring bacteria, viruses and fungi, is of general interest, for example in connection with foodstuffs and also water, criminalistics, etc. However, a particularly important area of use is that of clinical diagnosis, particularly in the case of intensive care patients who are suffering from severe bacterial infections and who are at a high risk of incurring severe organ damage within the context of a systemic inflammatory reaction and of even dying from it. The mortality rate in connection with severe sepsis, septic shock and multiorgan failure is up to 90%. No early parameters, which can be determined in the chemical laboratory and which indicate the beginning of an infection, even of a severe systemic infection, are currently available. Currently available routine parameters of inflammation, such as increase in leukocyte count or increase in C-reactive protein, only respond to a systemic infection with a chronological delay of from 1 to 3 days, are not specific to this infection and may be increased even in the absence of an infection with microorganisms. However, it would be extremely desirable to be also able to rapidly identify microorganisms in connection with local infections, for example eye infections, also after eye operations, which can otherwise even lead to the loss of the eye which has been operated on, parodontitis and also local fungal infections. Early diagnosis of an infection is essential for providing the possibility of early therapy. In particular, it is important to identify the infecting microorganism at an early stage in order to be able to initiate selective antibiotic therapy. However, the conventional microbiological diagnosis by means of propagation and culture detection is not satisfactory in this context. In the first place, this detection frequently takes several days and, in the second place, this type of detection is only possible when live bacteria are present in the sample which is provided. However, since body fluids, in particular blood, possess bactericidal properties, this is frequently not the case even when there is an infection. Conventional microbiological diagnosis therefore suffers from a high rate of falsely negative findings. Rapid diagnosis of an infection, and rapid identification of the infecting microorganism, would therefore mean the possibility of early therapy which was specifically oriented toward the organism which had been found and therefore gave grounds for the hope of being able to exert a favorable influence on the severity of the disease and even on the mortality rate of the disease.